14 DAY TRIAL // Jony Ive is assembling an awesome team. Apple's vice president of design just snatched Marc Newson as part of his small group. If you are not familiar with Newson's work, you should know that he worked with Ford, Nike, Qantas Airways and has created some timeless design pieces of his own.
According to VF Daily, Marc Newson and Jony Ive have been good friends for many years and they have spent some time together last year working on Apple products. Of course, these are unreleased products, as Apple has not changed anything in their designs in the past year. Yet, the company is getting ready to reveal an iWatch smartwatch-like device and a new iPhone.
Ive told VF Daily that "Marc is without question one of the most influential designers of this generation.” He added that Newson "is extraordinarily talented. We are particularly excited to formalize our collaboration as we enjoy working together so much and have found our partnership so effective.
Ive and Newson have worked together on U2 singer Bono's (RED) auction back in November of 2013 which raised 26.2 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS in Africa.
Newson also said in a statement that he is full of admiration for Ive's design at Apple. “My close friendship with Jony has not only given me a unique insight into that process, but the opportunity to work together with him and the people that have been responsible. I am enormously proud to join them.”
Apple appears to be on a roll, hiring people in the fashion and design industry. Angela Ahrendts (former Burberry CEO), Paul Deneve (of Tves Saint Laurent) and Ben Shaffer (from Nike) are among the new hires.
Apple is expected to announce an iWatch along iPhone 6's launch on September 9. The company was supposedly working for a number of years for a smartwatch-like device that can double as a way to pay in stores or as a fitness tracker, measuring heart rate, calories burned and other medical information that can get transferred over to the iPhone.
Marc Newson has famously created some timepieces with a strange but beautiful industrial design. Having him in the team adds value to the next-generation device whether that is a phone, watch or fitness band. The cited report says that Marc Newson will continue to work in London and will take projects for other companies, but will frequently fly to Cupertino, California to work with Jony Ive, too.
Here's a video of Marc Newson talking about how he designs watches.